Six divisions likely for New Hampshire football

Friday

Oct 26, 2007 at 2:00 AM

When it comes to high school football, more is usually better. At least that's what the NHIAA football committee seems to think, because it looks like New Hampshire will have more teams and more divisions next season.

Roger Brown

When it comes to high school football, more is usually better. At least that's what the NHIAA football committee seems to think, because it looks like New Hampshire will have more teams and more divisions next season.

The addition of Bedford, Inter-Lakes, Mascoma and Sanborn will give New Hampshire 55 varsity programs in 2008 and those teams will likely be spread across six divisions. The recommendation to add a sixth division will be made by the NHIAA football committee, which arrived at that decision Thursday during a meeting in Concord.

"There were a couple of proposals to keep it at five divisions, and a six-division proposal," Dozibrin said. "We're going to recommend six divisions based on enrollment. Basically we'll try to make the divisions as even as possible. We'll probably have five divisions with nine teams and one with 10. At this point we don't know which one will have 10."

Creating five 11-team divisions would have extended the postseason past Thanksgiving, when the winter sports season has already started at many schools. Dozibrin said geography was one of the main reasons the committee went with the six-division recommendation.

"You don't have to extend the seasons (if there are six divisions) and right now there's a lot of concern about time out of school," she said. "Some of these teams have to make long trips. I don't think the concern was as much about Friday and Saturday games as it was (sub-varsity) games during the week."

If a sixth division is approved it appears there will be minimal change to the football landscape, other than moving some of the state's smaller schools (Epping?) out of Division V to fill out the new division. Exact placement of teams won't be known until all petitions are received. Some schools, like Bishop Guertin and Somersworth, usually petition up to play in a division that includes schools with larger enrollments. Teams are not allowed to petition to a lower division.

"Teams haven't sent in petitions yet because they have nowhere to petition out of," Dozibrin said. "Once everyone is placed (in a division) teams may want to move to keep local rivalries. It should be interesting to see who petitions. We'll know that going into our next meeting."

At any rate, with the utmost confidence ...; this week's selections:

Exeter 35

Merrimack 0

A win would give Exeter the No. 1 seed for the Division II playoffs and likely set up a playoff matchup against Dover or Goffstown.

Winnacunnet 27

Goffstown 14

A win would give Winnacunnet the No. 3 seed for the Division II playoffs and likely set up a playoff matchup against Bishop Guertin.

Milford 21

Portsmouth 7

Two weeks ago, it looked like this game would have playoff implications for both teams. Portsmouth needs to win tonight and then beat Dover on Thanksgiving to salvage a .500 season.

York 28

Wells 14

Although it's still the regular season, this looks an awful lot like a playoff game. If the Wildcats win, they get to play again next weekend.

St. Thomas 28

Fall Mountain 0

Rod Wotton gets his milestone victory, but what he really wants is a win against Laconia.

Massabesic 21

Marshwood 14

The Hawks will have to find a way to slow down the Mustang offense. Time of possession will be a key stat in this game.

Traip 20

Yarmouth 6

It'll be a big surprise if the Rangers don't punctuate their season with a victory.

Trinity 28

Epping 7

One of these teams is going to pick up its first victory since September. It'll be up to the Epping offense to make this game competitive. The Blue Devils scored 63 points in their two victories, and 28 in their five losses.

Last week: 8-0 Record to date: 51-13

Roger Brown is a Herald staff writer. He can be reached at rbrown@seacoastonline.com.

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